7 of the Most Extreme Towns on the Planet

In towns that have hundreds of citizens to cities that have hundreds of thousands, residents of Earth have found some extreme locations to call home. Let's take a tour of some of the coldest, most remote, or highest (in altitude, that is), and check out seven towns and cities that offer a new perspective on extreme living.

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Kuwait City, Kuwait

FlickrLindsay Silveira/CC BY-ND 2.0

When it comes to towns of extreme heat, look no further than this full-fledged—and extremely wealthy—city. A hot day in Kuwait City can come in at over 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and the city sees an average daily high of around 111 degrees for three straight months in the summer. As one of the hottest cities in the world and certainly the hottest city of its mammoth size, expect to see the wealthy huddled inside air-conditioned homes and shopping areas while the less affluent rely on umbrellas and shade to find relief.

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La Rinconada, Peru

Hildegard Willer/GFDL

Tuiwa, Tibet, may claim the moniker of "rooftop of the world," but the Peru mining city of La Rinconada takes the title of highest altitude town at 16,700 feet above sea level. Located in the Andes at the foot of La Bella Durmiente, the town sits well above the tree line and its average daily temperature hovers just above freezing, making for a dreary, snowy existence for the 50,000 folks there, many working for explorers who come in search of gold at the local mine.

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Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland

Hannes Grobe/CC BY-SA 2.5

Don't mind all the double letters in Ittoqqortoormiit's name. What's really notable about this town in Greenland is that its population of about 450 gives it one of the most isolated locations in the world, but one still accessible for tourists. Located on Liverpool Land, an eastern peninsula, the town doesn't have extreme history, with less than 100 years to its name. The hunting village—whales and polar bears remain the mark—keeps some residents busy, while running wilderness adventures for tourists adds a second economic interest.

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Oymyakon, Russia

Getty ImagesAmos Chapple

Only about 500 people willingly choose to live in the extreme temperatures of Oymyakon, Russia, about a three-day drive from the remoteness of Yakutsk. With a record low of -90 degree Fahrenheit set in 1933, this Russian town is arguably the coldest permanently lived-in settlement. With an extreme northern climate, expect December days to offer only three hours of cold-infused light. But not all of Oymyakon is frigid—the town's name comes from a nearby hot spring that locals attempt to keep
accessible all year.

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Coober Pedy, Australia

Getty Imagesbradarn

In 1915, opal brought folks to the Australian outback more than 500 miles north of Adelaide. With temperatures routinely rising to 125 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, residents in search of the opal treasure started creating a more pleasant way to live: underground. Stretching into the hillsides as a network of caves, the town of about 1,700 has created nearly an entire city dugout of the hills, everything from homes to shops to churches and even the Desert Cave Hotel, an internationally rated dugout property.

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Iquitos, Peru

Perp for a four-day river journey and a drive over the Andes Mountains if you want to deliver goods to the remote town of Iquitos, Peru. Still, this out-of-the-way town fills out quite nicely with a population of roughly 400,000. In existence since the mid 1700s, Iquitos came into full city status thanks to a rubber rush in the Amazon in the late 1800s and early 1900s. But unlike other rubber-supported towns in the Amazon, most of which built roads and other connections, the remote region of this Peru town has kept it the most isolated city of substantial size on the planet.

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Port-aux-Francais, Kerguelen Islands

Daniel Delille/CC BY-SA 3.0

Only scientists dare venture to what could easily be classified as the most remote inhabited location in the world. The French Overseas Territory in the southern Indian Ocean lies over 2,000 miles from the nearest population. With a scientific base at Port-aux-Francais on La Grande Terre—the largest of the "Desolation Islands"—expect to find anywhere from 45 to 110 scientists handling the cold and windy lifestyle. With no airports to serve the residents, getting to Madagascar, the closest populated location, requires a ride on a ship.

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